In honor of Valentine’s Day tomorrow this week’s topic is a love freebie! I’m so excited to see what you chose to write your list on.

I love swoony romances. I can’t help it! I am a hopeless romantic, and I love reading about people in love. Today I’ve chosen to share some of the swooniest, most romantic, most lovey dovey things that book characters have said to each other. I’ve limited the list to books I’ve actually read and can vouch for.

1. “You’re like a song that I heard when I was a little kid but forgot I knew until I heard it again.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Shiver

2. “For there are no limits to the stars, their numbers infinite. Which is precisely why I measure my love for you by the stars. An amount too boundless to count.”
– Kerri Maniscalco, Hunting Prince Dracula

6. “I missed you every hour. And you know what the worst part was? It caught me completely by surprise. I’d catch myself walking around to find you, not for any reason, just out of habit, because I’d seen something that I wanted to tell you about or because I wanted to hear your voice. And then I’d realize that you weren’t there anymore, and every time, every single time, it was like having the wind knocked out of me. I’ve risked my life for you. I’ve walked half the length of Ravka for you, and I’d do it again and again and again just to be with you, just to starve with you and freeze with you and hear you complain about hard cheese every day. So don’t tell me we don’t belong together.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Shadow and Bone

7. “I just want to spend every possible minute of the rest of my life with you.”
— Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire

8. “Your soul sings to mine. My soul is yours, and it always will be, in any world. No matter what happens.”
— Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke and Bone

10. “How could you not know?” His voice was full of wonderment. “You changed me utterly. You were like a…like a bright, wonderful bloom in a garden full of weeds. Like a graceful capital on a page of plain script, a letter decorated with the deepest, finest colors in all Erin. Like a flame, Caitrin. Like a song.”
― Juliet Marillier, Heart’s Blood

What’s your very favorite romance novel? What about your favorite romantic quote or scene? I’d love recommendations, or to hear your thoughts on the quotes I shared!

The Debut Dish, a bi-monthly Debut Author Challenge feature, is where you go for the scoop on some pretty awesome debut authors and their new books! Hopefully these interviews will inspire you to add many, many more books to your to-read list. Because, really, who doesn’t need more books in their lives?

This issue of The Debut Dish features Rebecca Ross (The Queen’s Rising), Farrah Penn (Twelve Steps to Normal), Adrianne Finlay (Your One & Only), and Deborah Schaumberg (The Tombs).

When her seventeenth summer solstice arrives, Brienna desires only two things: to master her passion and to be chosen by a patron.

Growing up in the southern Kingdom of Valenia at the renowned Magnalia House should have prepared her for such a life. While some are born with an innate talent for one of the five passions—art, music, dramatics, wit, and knowledge—Brienna struggled to find hers until she belatedly chose to study knowledge. However, despite all her preparations, Brienna’s greatest fear comes true—the solstice does not go according to plan and she is left without a patron.

Months later, her life takes an unexpected turn when a disgraced lord offers her patronage. Suspicious of his intent, and with no other choices, she accepts. But there is much more to his story, and Brienna soon discovers that he has sought her out for his own vengeful gain. For there is a dangerous plot being planned to overthrow the king of Maevana—the archrival kingdom of Valenia—and restore the rightful queen, and her magic, to the northern throne. And others are involved—some closer to Brienna than she realizes.

With war brewing between the two lands, Brienna must choose whose side she will remain loyal to—passion or blood. Because a queen is destined to rise and lead the battle to reclaim the crown. The ultimate decision Brienna must determine is: Who will be that queen?

Describe your book in five words or less.
Girls overthrowing kings.

Tell us about your favorite scene in your book.
My favorite scene is a HUGE spoiler, so I’ll go with my second favorite, which is when Brienna is about to ride out into battle. There is this moment of peace that comes over her, even though she doesn’t know what’s about to unfold. We truly see her transform from an uncertain young girl into a brave woman dressed in armor who is about to wage war.

Where were you when you found out you were being published?
I had just clocked out at work and was walking to my car in the parking lot when my agent texted me, asking if she could call me. I was like, YES, call me! And then I sat in my car and waited a moment for that phone call, thinking I probably shouldn’t attempt to drive just yet. So I was sitting in my car when it happened :)

And somewhere between 1 and 12, realize that when your parent’s an alcoholic, there’s no such thing as “normal.”
When Kira’s father enters rehab, she’s forced to leave everything behind–her home, her best friends, her boyfriend…everything she loves. Now her father’s sober (again) and Kira is returning home, determined to get her life back to normal…exactly as it was before she was sent away.

But is that what Kira really wants?

Life, love, and loss come crashing together in this visceral, heartfelt story by BuzzFeed writer Farrah Penn about a girl who struggles to piece together the shards of her once-normal life before his alcoholism tore it apart.

Describe your book in five words or less.
Love, loss, and repairing relationships.

Tell us about your favorite scene in your book.
Oh man, I am a big fan of kissing scenes. My book is set during the school year, and one character is working on building an enormous Audrey II puppet for the upcoming musical, Little Shop of Horrors. This might be a mild spoiler, but there’s a kissing scene that happens inside the giant Audrey II that was fun and swoony to write.

Where were you when you found out you were being published?
I’d left work on my lunch break to run an errand and my agent called me when I was driving. I pulled over into a gas station after she told me the news because I was so shocked and overwhelmed with excitement. I think I kept repeating, “What? Oh my god!” That lunch break lasted longer than I intended because I also had to immediately call my mom and sister—but I don’t think anyone at work noticed, haha.

Jack is a walking fossil. The only human among a sea of clones. It’s been hundreds of years since humanity died off in the slow plague, leaving the clones behind to carry on human existence. Over time they’ve perfected their genes, moving further away from the imperfections of humanity. But if they really are perfect, why did they create Jack?

While Jack longs for acceptance, Althea-310 struggles with the feeling that she’s different from her sisters. Her fascination with Jack doesn’t help. As Althea and Jack’s connection grows stronger, so does the threat to their lives. What will happen if they do the unthinkable and fall in love?

Describe your book in five words or less.
The future, clones, love, humanity

Tell us about your favorite scene in your book.
This is a tough question! Some of my favorite scenes give a bit too much away and would probably be called spoiler-y, so I’ll choose the scene where Althea-310 and Jack kiss. It’s not a first kiss for either of them, and their past experiences make them wary for different reasons, but they’re still willing to risk their emotions. It’s complicated for both of them, but I love the way Jack handles his need to be cautious.

Where were you when you found out you were being published?
In a home improvement store near a display of sinks. It felt pretty random, but a lot of the time big news feels that way regardless of where you are when you hear it.

What’s your favorite junk food?
Potato chips with french onion dip. Crispy, salty, creamy–what else could you want? I can’t have it in the house or it’ll be gone and I’ll have regrets.

What’s the oddest thing on your desk right now?
A shrimp bubble. It’s a glass globe self-contained ecosystem with 5 little shrimp swimming around in it. It’s the best I can manage for a pet, only because it requires zero effort on my part.

Gangs of New York meets Cassandra Clare in this debut YA fantasy set in 1882 Brooklyn

New York, 1882. A dark, forbidding city, and no place for a girl with unexplainable powers.

Sixteen-year-old Avery Kohl pines for the life she had before her mother was taken. She fears the mysterious men in crow masks who locked her mother in the Tombs asylum for being able to see what others couldn’t. Avery denies the signs in herself, focusing instead on her shifts at the ironworks factory and keeping her inventor father out of trouble. Other than secondhand tales of adventure from her best friend, Khan, an ex-slave, and caring for her falcon, Seraphine, Avery spends her days struggling to survive.

Like her mother’s, Avery’s powers refuse to be contained. When she causes a bizarre explosion at the factory, she has no choice but to run from her lies, straight into the darkest corners of the city. Avery must embrace her abilities and learn to wield their power—or join her mother in the cavernous horrors of the Tombs. And the Tombs has secrets of its own: strange experiments are being performed on “patients”…and no one knows why.

Tell us about your favorite scene in your book.
So hard to choose, especially without spoilers! There are two that come to mind – one where Avery and her drunk father reminisce about a happier time before her mother was taken. And another when Avery stumbles upon a greenhouse in The Tombs, an enchanting place inhabited by one of my favorite characters.

Where were you when you found out you were being published?
Wednesday, 3/16/16 at 5:09 pm. I was home, after a long, very ordinary day. I checked my email and the day became magical! My agent informed me that Kristen Pettit at Harper Collins was prepared to make an offer; but she wanted to speak with me first! After an agonizing, jumping-out-of-my-skin, two-day wait, we talked on the phone, and our vision of the book was in perfect alignment! She said she would make the offer! Needles to say, my family and I celebrated that Friday night!

What’s the oddest thing on your desk right now?
Hmmm…what’s not odd on my desk? I tend to collect odd things! Right now there is a vertebrae of some animal, fossils, crystals, used bullet cartridges, a naked troll doll from my childhood…I could go on.

Welcome to Spindle Cove, where the ladies with delicate constitutions come for the sea air, and men in their prime are... nowhere to be found. Or are they?

Spindle Cove is the destination of choice for certain types of well-bred young ladies: the painfully shy, young wives disenchanted with matrimony, and young girls too enchanted with the wrong men; it is a haven for those who live there.

Victor Bramwell, the new Earl of Rycliff, knows he doesn't belong here. So far as he can tell, there's nothing in this place but spinsters... and sheep. But he has no choice, he has orders to gather a militia. It's a simple mission, made complicated by the spirited, exquisite Susanna Finch—a woman who is determined to save her personal utopia from the invasion of Bram's makeshift army.

Susanna has no use for aggravating men; Bram has sworn off interfering women. The scene is set for an epic battle... but who can be named the winner when both have so much to lose?

It goes without saying that I love Tessa Dare. She’s amazing, and always delivers when I need a good dose of historical romance filled with swoons, banter, and warm fuzzies. I discovered her Castles Ever After series and devoured those quickly. Then I decided to read her backlist starting with Spindle Cove. Guys, Spindle Cove is this adorable, quaint little seaside hamlet that I completely fell in love with and the people there have really big hearts.

Susanna and Bram are such a fun couple. They are one of those hate-to-love duos that I so enjoy. She’s in Spindle Cove to build it up and take care of the other ladies who society has kind of rejected for one reason or another. Bram is there to infiltrate their leisurely lives and build a volunteer militia from the town’s citizens (honetly, what were they thinking sending him to a town like this?). Luckily the ladies in Spindle Cove are no strangers to weaponry, as they shoot on Thursdays. Why not build a militia of spinster women? Susanna and Bram butt heads like you wouldn’t believe, but that passion ignites a romance that gave me all the swoons. The supporting characters are all wonderful, and it’s exciting to think about returning to visit them and read their love stories as well. While this is not my favorite romance, it definitely sets the tone for a series that I’m sure will continue to get better and better.

Dare’s writing is wonderful. She’s so great at capturing humor and romance and hatred and rolling them together into a romance filled with sparks and tension and excitement. This is a very sweet story that I’d definitely recommend.

This week I want to know which books have been hanging out on your TBR the longest, yet you still haven’t read them. My tastes tend to change over the years and I’ve removed many books from my TBR that I lost interest in. But there are some that have hung in there for 5-10 years and I just haven’t read them yet even though I still really want to. Those are the books I’m going to share with you today!

Which books do I need to read ASAP? Which would I be better off removing from my TBR forever? Have you been wanting to read any of these?

The Debut Dish, a bi-monthly Debut Author Challenge feature, is where you go for the scoop on some pretty awesome debut authors and their new books! Hopefully these interviews will inspire you to add many, many more books to your to-read list. Because, really, who doesn’t need more books in their lives?

This issue of The Debut Dish features Jaime Questell (By a Charm and a Curse) and A.M. Rose (Road to Eugenica).

Le Grand’s Carnival Fantastic isn’t like other traveling circuses. It’s bound by a charm, held together by a centuries-old curse, that protects its members from ever growing older or getting hurt. Emmaline King is drawn to the circus like a moth to a flame…and unwittingly recruited into its folds by a mysterious teen boy whose kiss is as cold as ice.

Forced to travel through Texas as the new Girl in the Box, Emmaline is completely trapped. Breaking the curse seems like her only chance at freedom, but with no curse, there’s no charm, either—dooming everyone who calls the Carnival Fantastic home. Including the boy she’s afraid she’s falling for.

Everything—including his life—could end with just one kiss.

Describe your book in five words or less.
Girl must escape cursed carnival.

Tell us about your favorite scene in your book.
So I figured that living with a traveling carnival means that sometimes you have to make your own entertainment. There’s a bit where while the whole troupe is stopped to get gas, one of the teen equestrians, nicknamed Whiskey, starts a game that equal parts tag and food fight with some mini doughnuts. I loved letting these characters have some fun, not to mention Whiskey’s dialogue was •always• fun to write.

Where were you when you found out you were being published?
I was in the car (Bluetooth for the win!), by myself and certain I was going to be pulled over for freaking out. Luckily I almost immediately came to a red light so I was able to get it together.

What’s your favorite junk food?
I have to pick a favorite?! This is hard, but I think I have to say good, old-fashioned chocolate chip cookies. I make them with the best chocolate I can get and add an extra cup of flour to the classic Toll House recipe so they don’t spread everywhere and •chef kiss• Best. Cookies. Ever.

What’s the oddest thing on your desk right now?
A friend of mine gave me one of those unicorn hand puppets, where you put a hoof on four of your fingers/thumb and the head on the remaining finger. The problem is, the hooves and head never stay together, so there’s a hoof here, a severed unicorn head here…I’ve had some really confused colleagues in my office. :D

Yesterday, Drea Smith couldn’t do anything spectacular—even walking and texting at the same time was a challenge. But today, she suddenly has more answers than Google, can speak and understand numerous languages, and she can fight. Like a boss.

Super freaky.

Drea has no idea where her encyclopedic knowledge has come from, but she’ll take it when she discovers someone out there knows her secret and wants her badly. And that they’ve been searching for her since she was born.

Since she was created.

With the help of her best friend Dylan, who just wants to keep her safe, and Maddox, a mysterious new boy who is prepared to get her answers, Drea will have to push her new skills to their limit as she uncovers nothing is quite what it seems.

As she uncovers…Eugenica.

Describe your book in five words or less.
Yikes! This is tough… I guess I would say,

Two worlds. Too many secrets.

Tell us about your favorite scene in your book.
Phew. I’m glad I get more than five words for this one, otherwise I think it would be impossible. (LOL) I think my favorite scene(s) are Drea interacting with her Dad. He’s such an integral part of her life and they have such a strong relationship that it’s just nice to get to see her be herself. Especially when nothing in her life turns out to be normal.

Where were you when you found out you were being published?
I remember I was sitting at my kitchen table going through emails when I got to one from Entangled Teen saying they wanted my book. At first I think I was in shock. I had just gone from winning the NJWR Put Your Heart in a Book contest, to being asked for a full from an Entangled Editor, to an offer of publication. I didn’t even have time to query before this deal came in.

There might have been some screaming too, I can’t remember exactly. It’s all kind of a blur. But I do know my friend brought over some champagne to celebrate with me.

What’s your favorite junk food?
It’s a toss up between ice cream and chips. Depending on if I want something salty or sweet. Maybe I should try mixing them together sometime. (Maybe not.)

What’s the oddest thing on your desk right now?
My desk lately is my couch (since I am recovering from surgery) so there’s everything from stuffed animals, blankets, sleeping cats, a stack of books, and snacks. All within reach of course.

I’m so excited to welcome debut author Gloria Chao to the blog today as part of the American Panda blog tour hosted by Fantastic Flying Book Club! Gloria is here to tell us what she learned while writing her first novel. Following her post, read more about Gloria and her book, plus enter to win a copy of American Panda for yourself!

10 Things I Learned While Writing American Panda

by Gloria Chao

1. Writing is a form of therapy.

2. Sometimes during the writing process, you need to put your head on the desk or lie on the floor and that’s okay.

3. Sometimes, for the sake of your book, you need to face your demons and ask your mother why she was so strict, why she didn’t let you date, and other horrible questions that are terrifying but necessary.

4. Don’t look at the word count—only bad things will follow. (How bad? Think Mei’s grandma with a knife threatening to cut off her forehead mole to “help her catch a man.” [p. 87 of American Panda])

5. Humor makes writing more fun!

6. Humor is tough and needs a lot of cutting and reworking.

7. Humor is subjective and scary.

8. Everything about writing is subjective and scary, especially sending your book out into the world.

9. And yet it is so rewarding and wonderful, and I want to hug the readers who so kindly let me know how much they connected with the characters, the story, the jokes, the cover, etc.

10. There is nothing in the world quite like writing, and I am the luckiest person that I get to do this as my job, even if it is a roller coaster.

An incisive, laugh-out-loud contemporary debut about a Taiwanese-American teen whose parents want her to be a doctor and marry a Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer despite her squeamishness with germs and crush on a Japanese classmate.

At seventeen, Mei should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parents’ master plan. Now a freshman at MIT, she is on track to fulfill the rest of this predetermined future: become a doctor, marry a preapproved Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer, produce a litter of babies.

With everything her parents have sacrificed to make her cushy life a reality, Mei can’t bring herself to tell them the truth–that she (1) hates germs, (2) falls asleep in biology lectures, and (3) has a crush on her classmate Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly not Taiwanese.

But when Mei reconnects with her brother, Xing, who is estranged from the family for dating the wrong woman, Mei starts to wonder if all the secrets are truly worth it. Can she find a way to be herself, whoever that is, before her web of lies unravels?

About Gloria Chao

Gloria Chao is an MIT grad turned dentist turned writer. AMERICAN PANDA is her debut novel, coming out February 6, 2018 from Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster.

Gloria currently lives in Chicago with her ever-supportive husband, for whom she became a nine-hole golfer (sometimes seven). She is always up for cooperative board games, Dance Dance Revolution, or soup dumplings. She was also once a black belt in kung-fu and a competitive dancer, but that side of her was drilled and suctioned out.

Visit her tea-and-book-filled world at gloriachao.wordpress.com and find her on Twitter @gloriacchao.

This week’s topic is “Top Ten Books I Can’t Believe I Read”. I made this topic broad on purpose so that you could interpret it however you’d like. Were these books out of your comfort zone? Were they guilty pleasures you’re embarrassed to admit you read? Were they a genre you hate or for an age group you don’t typically read? Were you forced to read it in school and were surprised you actually did it instead o pretending you did? Perhaps they were intimidating to you, had a million pages, were on a topic you tend to shy away from, etc. I’m kind of all over the place with my list. lol. I’m excited to see how you’ve spun this topic!

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The premise of this book (kids killing each other) seemed SUPER upsetting to me and like something I would NEVER want to read. Ever. I figured it would be way too disturbing, but then I kept hearing about it and my curiosity got the better of me. I really loved it, but I still can’t believe I actually took the plunge.

2. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
When I first heard about this book I was a sophomore in college, and the idea of sexy vampires was unheard of to me. In what universe would I ever fall in love with a vampire? Again, I kept hearing about it… And then a guy in my Color Theory class brought his wife’s copy in for an assignment where we had to get up in front of the class and analyze color choices of products. That was the first time I’d ever seen the cover of the book I’d been hearing about. My mom and I decided to read it together for fun, and I was hooked.

3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
So… I found this book in a Scholastic book fair (in 1997) at my school library when I was a little kid and I thought the cover looked cool. I’d never heard about this book, and none of the other books had been released yet so nobody was really talking about it. I bought it and brought it home and read 3 pages before I gave up. And honestly, I went years before I even heard of these books again. I even donated my copy! I vowed to never force myself to read them because I was so not into the first one, but then the movies started coming out and the book blogging world became major pushers of the series for me. I still wasn’t interested, though, because I won’t succumb to peer pressure. The only reason I read this book is because a professor in my library and information science grad program required it for an assignment in my Children’s Literature course. 17 years after I DNFd the book I finally read it, and really enjoyed it. Now I’m working my way through the series and it’s so much fun!

4. Heartless by Marissa Meyer
Ok, so I only read this book because Marissa Meyer wrote it. I really hate Alice In Wonderland, so I was not at all interested in this book except for the fact that I love Marissa. And really, I didn’t like it much anyway. lol. But the writing was lovely!

5. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Blah. Another required reading in grad school, this time for my YA Lit class. I hate cancer books, I hate crying, and I was not at all a John Green person… this book had absolutely nothing going for it in my mind, and I had no interest in it. And… it was super meh. At least I didn’t cry, though! lol. Still not a John Green person either…

6. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
I was terrified of this book. I wanted to read it because I had heard it was beautiful and unique and amazing, but I was so scared because of the subject matter. I have a hard time with holocaust books and crying and death. I met Markus at ALA one year and he personalized a beautiful hardback copy (free from the pub) of this for me. That was what made me decide to bite the bullet. He was soooo nice and I wanted to read his book. The final push, though, was when I was assigned to read this in grad school as well. It is beautiful and I loved it, but it was very hard to read.

7. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
This was my first YA contemporary romance! I was never a fan of contemporary novels, and stuck to dystopia or thriller or historical romance, so Anna was my gateway book. The cover is kinda cheesy and the title is a little gaggy, but this is now one of my favorite books of all time and it opened me up to a whole world of really great YA contemporary romances. I’m so glad I took the plunge!

8. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Another gateway book! This was my very first fantasy novel. Ever. I bought it because I was going to a Fierce Reads author signing (my first author signing) and I wanted all the autographs. I knew nothing about it, but when Leigh talked about it at the signing I became intrigued and decided to read it. It’s another one of my favorite novels ever, and I have read so many amazing fantasies because of it.

9. On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves
This book. I have so much love for this book and the author. I read On the Island way back when, as a self-published novel a couple years before Penguin bought it, gave it a new cover, and published it. I got an email about a book tour and read the synopsis and thought there was no way the book was for me. I didn’t love the age gap between the couple, and I had had some bad experiences working with self-published authors so I was very uninterested. But the synopsis got under my skin and I kept thinking about it, so I decided to go ahead and sign up a few days later. I received my ebook and began reading one evening. I could. Not. Stop. I loved it so much. The writing was amazing and the story was so sweet and wonderful and exciting. This was the ultimate out of my comfort zone kind of book, and I am so proud of myself for being brave and saying yes! It’s now one of my top 5 favorite books of all time. I’ve pushed it on many, many people since I read it. And if you look in the acknowledgments of the sequel you’ll see my name. :)

10. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
This was a required read in my Children’s Literature class and I hated it even more than I thought I would. Blech. I can’t believe I can claim I’ve read this. Clearly my dumb grad school never let me make my own decisions! I’m literally fuming as I write this that I will have to lie to people if I want to tell them I’ve never read a Wimpy Kid book.

The Debut Dish, a bi-monthly Debut Author Challenge feature, is where you go for the scoop on some pretty awesome debut authors and their new books! Hopefully these interviews will inspire you to add many, many more books to your to-read list. Because, really, who doesn’t need more books in their lives?

Alice had her whole summer planned. Non-stop all-you-can-eat buffets while marathoning her favorite TV shows (best friends totally included) with the smallest dash of adulting–working at the library to pay her share of the rent. The only thing missing from her perfect plan? Her girlfriend (who ended things when Alice confessed she’s asexual). Alice is done with dating–no thank you, do not pass go, stick a fork in her, done.

But then Alice meets Takumi and she can’t stop thinking about him or the rom com-grade romance feels she did not ask for (uncertainty, butterflies, and swoons, oh my!).

When her blissful summer takes an unexpected turn, and Takumi becomes her knight with a shiny library employee badge (close enough), Alice has to decide if she’s willing to risk their friendship for a love that might not be reciprocated—or understood.

Describe your book in five words or less.
Alice meets Takumi. Chaos ensues.

Tell us about your favorite scene in your book.
I really like the scene where Alice and Takumi have a Wallow session à la The Gilmore Girls. It involves junk food, horror movies, and onesies.

Bonus answer: Any scene with Alice and her best friend, Feenie.

Where were you when you found out you were being published?
I was at work! Sitting at my desk, minding my own merry business, and I got an email. I wrote a blog post about The Experience here.

What’s your favorite junk food?
Pizza!

Fun fact: Pizza is also Takumi’s favorite food. Chicago deep dish style with a pound of cheese on top.

An incisive, laugh-out-loud contemporary debut about a Taiwanese-American teen whose parents want her to be a doctor and marry a Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer despite her squeamishness with germs and crush on a Japanese classmate.

At seventeen, Mei should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parents’ master plan. Now a freshman at MIT, she is on track to fulfill the rest of this predetermined future: become a doctor, marry a preapproved Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer, produce a litter of babies.

With everything her parents have sacrificed to make her cushy life a reality, Mei can’t bring herself to tell them the truth–that she (1) hates germs, (2) falls asleep in biology lectures, and (3) has a crush on her classmate Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly not Taiwanese.

But when Mei reconnects with her brother, Xing, who is estranged from the family for dating the wrong woman, Mei starts to wonder if all the secrets are truly worth it. Can she find a way to be herself, whoever that is, before her web of lies unravels?

Describe your book in five words or less.
Taiwanese-American teen defies parental expectations.

Tell us about your favorite scene in your book.
My favorite scene in the book is toward the end and involves spoilers, so I will instead discuss my second favorite scene, which is the first chapter. The opening hasn’t changed much since the first draft, and the conversations between the parents and Mei, the main character, perfectly sum up what one of my conversations with my traditional Taiwanese parents look like. And yes, all those things the mother says, like, “There are no ugly women, only lazy women,” are true.

Where were you when you found out you were being published?
I was on my way out the door to meet my husband for dinner when my agent called me to tell me about our offer. I remember keeping my composure on the call, but the second I hung up, I began bawling. Like with all news, I told my husband first (and we jumped up and down for a little while), then my parents.

What’s your favorite junk food?
I am a total chocoholic, and it can come in any form. Never met a piece of chocolate I didn’t love!

What’s the oddest thing on your desk right now?
A plush tofu that was made to be a cell phone holder, but with the advent of larger smart phones, it has transitioned into holding my Bluetooth.

The action-packed tale of a 17-year-old warrior princess and a handsome gladiator who dared take on the Roman Republic―and gave rise to the legend of Spartacus…

For teens who love strong female protagonists in their fantasy and historical fiction, Blood and Sand is a stirring, yet poignant tale of two slaves who dared take on an empire by talented debut author C. V. Wyk.

Roma Victrix. The Republic of Rome is on a relentless march to create an empire―an empire built on the backs of the conquered, brought back to Rome as slaves.

Attia was once destined to rule as the queen and swordmaiden of Thrace, the greatest warrior kingdom the world had seen since Sparta. Now she is a slave, given to Xanthus, the Champion of Rome, as a sign of his master’s favor. Enslaved as a child, Xanthus is the preeminent gladiator of his generation.

Against all odds, Attia and Xanthus form a tentative bond. A bond that will spark a rebellion. A rebellion that threatens to bring the Roman Republic to its end―and gives rise to the legend of Spartacus…

Describe your book in five words or less.
I am Spartacus.

Tell us about your favorite scene in your book.
The scenes featuring Xanthus and his blood-brothers were the most fun to write. Their banter and easy way with each other made me smile or smirk or snort every time, especially the scene where Iduma fights while eating hah!

Where were you when you found out you were being published?
I was at home playing Guild Wars 2 and trying to clear a dungeon with my party when I got The Call. I got tangled up in my headphones and fell off my chair. (The folks in the apartment downstairs came up to ask if we were okay…)

It’s the year 2071 and eleven year-old Kia Krumpet is determined to build her 67 inventions, but she won’t have the opportunity to unless she earns a spot at PIPS, the Piedmont Inventor’s Prep School. Kia, who has trouble making friends at school, has dreamed of winning the Piedmont Challenge and attending PIPS ever since she learned that her Grandma Kitty won the very first Piedmont Challenge. After she and four of her classmates are selected to compete for a spot at PIPS, they travel by aero-bus to Camp Piedmont to solve a task against forty-nine other state teams to earn their place at the best inventor’s school in the country.

Describe your book in five words or less.
Oh I guess I’d have to say: imaginative, inventive, competitive, heartbreaking, and heartwarming.

Tell us about your favorite scene in your book.
There’s a heartbreaking scene between eleven year-old Kia Krumpet and her Grandma Kitty that was particularly difficult to write. It’s a scene where I hope to show the moment in a child’s life when he or she realizes that a family member (like a parent or grandparent) is not perfect—that moment when that illusion is shattered. It happens to every child at some point in their life and can be a defining moment for them. And it’s one of my favorites!

Where were you when you found out you were being published?
I was home alone in my bedroom ready to fold laundry! My phone was sitting on my dresser when I heard the ding. It was my agent telling me that I had an offer! Of course I didn’t have all the details at that moment, and I didn’t know if we would accept, but at that point I knew someone wanted my story and if everything worked out, it would be published. I literally broke into tears!

What’s the oddest thing on your desk right now?
Well, I have a broken hour glass sitting on it right now! The glass broke out of it so it’s basically a wooden frame. I have plans to spray paint a light bulb gold and place it inside- to make it look like a golden light bulb trophy in honor of my first published book. It will either turn into the coolest thing ever or a mess. We’ll see!

In the kingdom of Sempera, time is currency—extracted from blood, bound to iron, and consumed to add time to one’s own lifespan. The rich aristocracy, like the Gerlings, tax the poor to the hilt, extending their own lives by centuries.

No one resents the Gerlings more than Jules Ember. A decade ago, she and her father were servants at Everless, the Gerlings’ palatial estate, until a fateful accident forced them to flee in the dead of night. When Jules discovers that her father is dying, she knows that she must return to Everless to earn more time for him before she loses him forever.

But going back to Everless brings more danger—and temptation—than Jules could have ever imagined. Soon she’s caught in a tangle of violent secrets and finds her heart torn between two people she thought she’d never see again. Her decisions have the power to change her fate—and the fate of time itself.

I’d really been looking forward to Everless. The cover is pretty cool, the premise sounded unique (although I recently watched In Time, so it’s less unique now. lol), and I’ve been on a bit of a fantasy kick as of late. Sadly, though, things fell a bit short for me and I wasn’t impressed. As always, my main points are bolded.

1. I tend to reserve the spot of my first book of the year for a book I’m really excited about. I’m not sure if that impacted my overall opinion of the book or not, but I had a lot of expectations going in. I was excited about it, it was going to be my first book of 2018, it was going to be my first debut of 2018, etc. It was a huge letdown. It is receiving rave reviews from readers, including many of my fellow book blogger friends, so am I missing something? I don’t even know, but I am seriously confused as to why I’m one of the very few people who did not like this book.

2. So… Everless is pretty much exactly like the movie, In Time. A Goodreads user asked how similar this book is, and Sofia Frost answered the question better than I could have. Possible spoilers below, so jump to point #3 if you don’t want to be spoiled!

*Main character’s family members die, cause they run out of time.
*Main character moves to place where rich and royal live.
*Main character falls in love with rich and famous (although in the book it is not really love at that point, but I am sure in future books it will become a full love story)
*Main character gains a lot of time. (book: ofc she can not just be a regular poor kid from the country)
*Prediction: Main character would try to break the curse of blood and time- and make everyone equal.

The end.

So… yes. Very similar to In Time. And I hated the movie, too.

3. Scroll back up and read the synopsis of the book. Sounds kind of cool, right? Well… think again. It’s depressing. This book was so depressing. Everyone is a ticking time bomb, not sure exactly how much time they have left. Unless they are rich, they live in an almost constant state of panic. I could never live in this world! I’d be filled with so much anxiety. I’d be scared to sleep. I’d be scared to read or watch movies because I’d worry I’d lose track of time. I’d constantly be worried I overestimated the time I had left and just fall dead one second. I’d never be carefree or happy. Even worse, I’d be scared to fall in love because I’d have to worry about someone else’s time, and not just my own. I’d be worrying about my family and my friends. How depressing is a life like that? Not only is the world depressing, but so is the backstory of almost every single character. Why did I ever think this was going to be a fun book to read? I read to escape to a happier place, and this book needs escaping from. I’ll take my real life, thanks.

4. Jules comes from tragedy. But did it make her smart? Did it make her strong? No. She fell in love with a boy when she was 7 while working for his family, his family ruined her life, she sneaks back to their estate to make blood-irons to help save her dying father even though he’s super against it, and she still has a crush on this boy. I’m sorry, but at 17-18 I didn’t know who I had a crush on 10 years prior, and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t still have a crush on him. Especially after his family ruined my life and the lives of others I care about. Nope.

5. The romance…? It was barely there and added nothing to the story, but I see where things are going. No. I’m not at all on board. There’s no swoons, and I really don’t like the guy. Maybe there’s going to be a love triangle and the guy I preferred will end up with Jules, but I probably won’t ever know.

6. Something very Hunger Games happens (and not at all in a good way), and it’s totally spoilery for both this book and The Hunger Games series, so highlight the white space between the brackets if you’re curious. Needless to say, I was pretty furious. If you’re reading via email subscription or RSS reader and you don’t want to be spoiled for either book, jump ahead to point #7 because my whited-out text will only hide the spoilers if you’re reading on my blog. You’ve been warned.

[[[[[[Jules throws everything away to go to a very dangerous place to save her father’s life. He’s so so so against it, to the point of actually following her to beg her to come home. They speak for a few moments, she lies to him and tells him she will come home… all the while never actually planning to. She sends him home, lying that she will come soon. And what happens? He dies on the way home. He was so hell-bent on getting back to her that he wasted his time to try and save her instead of making sure he had enough time left for himself! SHE HAD BLOOD-IRONS WITH HER!! Why did she not give him any to ensure he would have enough time? She was literally there suffering in order to extend his life, but nope. Just like Katniss sacrificed herself for her sister Primm, only to have Primm die at the end, Jules sacrificed for her father, only to lose him anway. It’s maddening. I hate it when authors kill off the reason for a huge piece of the story. At least Katniss was amazing, though. And at least it wasn’t her fault that Primm died. Jules’s father’s death is totally her fault.]]]]]]

7. That was a much longer rant than I thought it would be, but I get madder and madder the more I think about this book. Jules is a wimpy idiot of a character. She has no street smarts, no brain, no fight in her. She has no personality whatsoever. I spent so much of the book yelling at her. By the end of Everless she has not grown at all, and I’m too exhausted to read another book so she can try to prove herself to me. And let’s be fair… every characters was flat and shapeless and boring. I wanted to smack them all.

8. So much of this plot was driven by miscommunication and pointless secrets. If the characters would just TALK to each other instead of waiting for everyone to figure it all out and find the answers themselves everything would have resolved on its own! Jules’s dad comes to the estate to warn her and instead of actually warning her in a way that makes sense he spouts out a bunch of mumbo jumbo that would have only made sense to Jules if she had already known what he was talking about. They say mankind is getting suckier and suckier at communicating with one another due to social media and texting, but these characters have neither. So what’s their excuse? When the fate of humanity rests on a teenaged girl, don’t you think the guy with all the answers could at least give them to her? That’d be too easy, though. Then we wouldn’t have a trilogy.

9. The characters and the world were underdeveloped. There was nothing keeping me there except my desire to actually finish a book so I didn’t start out the year already behind on my Goodreads goal.

10. This might be the most critical piece of my review… but the writing just wasn’t good. And I feel so bad for saying that. It’s easy to not like a story. We all have our likes and dislikes, and that’s widely accepted. All authors know that the story or the characters or the world, etc. that they wrote will not be loved by all. But I always feel so horrible for saying I didn’t like the writing because that removes the story completely and has to do with the actual words instead of the details. But I just didn’t like the writing. It wasn’t memorable or filled with pretty details. There were no quotes I highlighted to save and re-read later.

All in all, I could not get past the fact that this felt like a copy of the movie In Time. Immediately I started looking for all the similarities, which just frustrated me to no end. And I really think that if it had been amazing I would have been ok with those similarities. I hated the movie, so it would not have taken much for me to like it more. lol. But I just didn’t. It was depressing and underdeveloped and frustrating. I’m sorry to say that I would not recommend it to anyone, unless they were looking for In Time fanfic… and is that even a thing?

This week’s topic is about the books you loved or really liked, but can’t remember much about. This is a big problem for me, especially where series books are concerned. I love reading a really amazing series, but sometimes I get caught up in so many series at a time that I get really overwhelmed. I end up forgetting the important things from the first/second books and not having the time to re-read them (or the desire because I didn’t LOVE it enough to read it again), but still wanting to finish the series! It’s so frustrating. Luckily I have the Recaptains to help me remember the important stuff, but not always! I’m going to highlight those series books I read but don’t remember, which has sadly prevented me from finishing the series.

Hi, I’m Jana!

I’m a 30-something graphic designer, singer, book lover, avid world traveler, cat whisperer, whale watcher, and art enthusiast. I live in the snowy Rocky Mountains, have an unhealthy obsession with soft blankets, and have been known to toss my book aside in favor of binging shows on Netflix.